Merlin's Game
by RupeyGiles
Summary: Deep in the confines of Hogwarts, Merlin's enchanted teapot lies untouched for generations and generations. When Ambrosia Emerson is transferred to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she finds herself binded to the teapot by an old magic. Sirius/OC.
1. The Sorting

**Chapter One – The Sorting**

We entered the great hall, those nerve-wracking steps - the start of a new school year. I picked at the end of my sleeve, a nervous habit of mine, and walked up with all the first years.

Ignoring the odd looks I received, I hurried up to the stool as my name was called. _Hmm…_ I gave a start as the sorting hat's voice sounded in my head. _Ambrosia Emerson. You are smart enough for Ravenclaw, and you'd be comfortable enough in Hufflepuff. But, I have higher priorities than making you comfortable._ The sorting hat laughed, but I cringed. He couldn't have made it easy on me, could he? _Don't worry, it is all for the best. You need a little courage and to be able to stand up for yourself. Welcome to Hogwarts, Emerson. _I held my breath, as the hat drew his to yell-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I wasn't supposed to be here. Not at Hogwarts, not if I had been normal. About a year before I was to go to wizarding school, my parents and I had moved to Belgium. And in September, I attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Things were fine at first, after all, spells and charms were so fun to perform and I was immensely intrigued with my schoolwork. I suppose I was just caught up with the incredible world of magic, all by myself, all alone. Then, when the novelty had worn off a bit, I found that everyone had made friends, which was fine by me, really, it was.

Only this was an all girls school and things worked differently at Beauxbatons. Many of the girls were consumed with looks and found great interest in mirrors where I had found great interest in books. Some bragged that they were Veelas. They really weren't. No, they were something different – completely different in fact.

I could be modest, I could tell you I was ugly and therefore, shunned by the other girls. But, I have always been told – since I was a child, by relatives and sometimes strangers, - that I had my mother's beauty and my father's sincere eyes and facial expressions. I would shrug and continue whatever I had been doing; whatever had caught my interest.

So when I finally emerged from having my nose buried in some book, I was greeted by animosity from my fellow pupils. When Christmas break had arrived, I had clung to my mothers robes, frowning softly while she assured me that the reason for all the cruelty that I had been subject to was based on jealousy. I didn't want to go back, and that's what I told my mother. She looked down at me sadly, and after a lot of convincing, I boarded the flying coaches back to the academy.

At this point, I take a shuddery breath. I had tried just being nice and not letting them get to me, which escalated quickly to my mother's suggestion of 'killing them with kindness'. However, it just seemed to encourage them. Just grinning and bearing it, they must have been elated knowing I wasn't going to do anything or tell any teachers about their extensive pranks. And then, in the midst of that year, I lost my magic.

It happened gradually. Spells were getting harder and harder to do. I devoted my time to practicing my form, pronunciation, theory, and focus. When I tried hours and hours on a Saturday evening to preform a simple 'accio', my confidence took yet another blow. The girls laughed, called me a squib, and started this thing where whenever they did something, I would be excluded. Which wasn't new, but now they'd laugh and say, 'sorry, witches only'.

My parents found out after they had seen that my grades had plummeted. I hadn't talked of any of the other girls, or about the bullying. By then, I couldn't just laugh off waking up to a different hair color or having my nails fall off in the middle of class anymore. Everyday I would have another misfortune to look forward to. By the end of the year, my mother was furious. She had marched straight up to the Headmistress's office and I was giving the week off while the main culprits were temporarily suspended and given future detentions.

This dissuaded many from picking on me, but intensified their dislike of me (especially those who had gotten in trouble thanks to my mother). Second year, most of it had died down, but to think it had ended there would be wishful thinking. Slowly, the girls began to pluck up their courage again to get back at me.

So finally, for my seventh year, my parents moved me back to England, and to Hogwarts. At first, exuberance. I would finally be away from Beauxbatons and everyone in it! But as I was walking to the Gryffindor table, I remembered I'd have to share my shame in not being able to perform magic with them. I received a couple pats on the back and congratulations, but I felt sick. Once they found out, they would surely wish I had been forced onto another house.

**Well that was rather short. Anyways, I hope from this chapter that you know whether you want to continue reading, and if you do then tell me!**


	2. Magically Challenged

**Chapter Two – Magically Challenged**

I had already woken up and practiced my form for maybe thirty minutes when Lily Evans walked down the stairs. "What are you doing?" she asked me, sitting in the armchair closest to me. I closed my eyes, rolling them under my heavy lids, feeling bothered with the fact that I could lie.

I sighed. But lying wouldn't work, she was the first person who had approached me and I could tell she wanted very much for us to be friends. And I wanted us to be friends. "I want my form to be perfect, so I practice every day. I-I want every swish, every flick, every loop to be perfect. Because I can't actually…" I trailed off, looking down at my hands. My mouth had opened, but the words were caught in my throat. _… do magic…_

"Well it seems I have some competition now," she mused. _No, no not really. You honestly have nothing to be afraid of._ But I laughed it off and went of to breakfast with her. We were probably of the first to finish our breakfasts, and we stood to leave. Lily had been going off about the start of the new school year and spewing tips I really should have been listening to. However, as we passed through the entrance, a group of rowdy boys entered and I found my eyes glued to one of theirs'. His laugh had dropped away and for that second, he stared back at me with an intensity I had never experienced before.

I tore my eyes away, smoothing down the front of my skirt, I shakily interrupted Lily to ask, "Those people we passed… They're in our year, aren't they?"

Lily turned her head back sharply and surprised me with a snort. Who knew? Lily Evans… snorting! "Oh them," she said contemptuously, "The marauders."

"Who?" I said, immensely confused. The Marauders? Sounded like a horrible type of mold…

"Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter," she said with vehement. I raised an eyebrow. "Troublemakers. Well not Remus. He's the only thing that is keeping them in check. Peter's a shy boy really and only does what Black and Potter says." I nodded, climbing up the stone stairway alongside her. "Then there's Black. I reckon you'll be seeing a bit of him. He's messed around with more than half of the girls in our school, and I don't doubt that he'll try to charm you as well."

"Oh really? Well he can try," I laughed, cracking a smile at Lily who was a couple steps ahead of me. It was odd, very odd. I had made my first female friend since I started schooling in Beauxbatons and was feeling the same comfortableness I used to only feel around family or the neighborhood boys I hung out with during the summer.

"Oh yeah, and lastly, there's Potter," she shuddered and rolled her eyes. It kind of looked like she was having a seizure. As we reached the top landing she continued, "Insufferable, bone-headed moron ever to attend Hogwarts!" she screwed up her face as if she could smell an unpleasant wafting odor and put her books down.

"Is he really that bad?"

"Yes! Honestly, he never stops badgering me! It's a wonder he ever has the chance to draw breath," she said in exasperation, "and.. and…" Her face turned beet red and I may be exaggerating, but steam seemed to spout out of her ears. "He's always pestering me to go out with him," she quivered in quiet anger.

"For how long?" I asked, grinning, resisting the urge to wiggle my eyebrows.

"Oh, I don't know," Lily said. She fixed her books and ink bottle so they lined up perfectly, "About six years?" My eyebrows had shot up into my forehead, but Lily had already turned her attention away to the front of the room as students started to slowly trickle into the classroom.

"Lilykins!" I swiveled to see one of the Marauders with his eyes fixed on Lily. Mine slid to the boy sitting beside him, the one that had caught my attention when exiting the Great Hall. He shot me a beautiful and lazy smile and I gulped, feeling suddenly uncomposed, my fingers nervously picking at my sleeve.

"James Potter," the other boy said after finally realizing I was there, holding his hand out for me to shake. I snapped over to face him and stuck out my hand to receive his.

"Er, Ambrosia Emerson," I replied, for he had seemed nice enough. My eyes trailed over to Lily curiously, but she was still facing the front with a set look on her face.

"Well, if you want, me and Sirius here can give you a tour of the castle, special treat of the marauders," he said jovially, then added, "Lily can come too if she wants. She knows we know more about the castle than any student or teacher at Hogwarts."

Lily scoffed, finally turning around. "Oh please, you're so full of yourself, Potter." James' friendly smile faltered and he looked a bit downcast and slightly lost.

"Um, yeah sure, definitely!" I said, nodding, "It'll be fun. Right Lily?" I elbowed Lily. She gave a 'myeh' sound, jotting down a couple of notes. I looked back over at Sirius hesitantly and found myself not able to look away.

"AMBROSIA!" Lily snapped. I blinked and turned abruptly, to face the front where Professor Clementine stood, looking at me expectantly.

"Uh… what?" I asked, dumbly. I heard Sirius snigger behind me.

"If you know so much about melting charms, then you can demonstrate to us your extensive knowledge on this subject." Professor Clementine said, expectantly, "Please, go ahead."

He walked up and placed a small sugar cube on my desk for me to demonstrate on. I stared at it for a while, then people began to whisper. Lily gave me an encouraging nod.

"Moltiatre!" I said clearly, perfect pronunciation, perfect form. Nothing happened. Obviously. I blink slowly, inhaling heavily before I tried again, "moltiatre." Again, nothing. I exhaled, humiliated. "I-I can't do it professor," I said, teeth gritted, "I can't do magic."

The class started talking, and the Professor had to yell for them to quiet down. "Nonsense, nonsense! You're a witch, you've been accepted into our highly prestigious school for magic. I'm sure you're just being a little hard on yourself," Professor Clementine assured me, "You've been placed in a whole new environment, I'm sure it was just nerves." I shook my head. If only it were true.

"I haven't been able to do magic for nearly five years," I confessed. A couple of people gasped, and several more laughed, thinking this was some joke. Lily stared at me, looking shell-shocked.

"So are you a squib?" one person asked.

"No, _silly_, she just said," another interjected, "that her magic stopped five years ago. It was there at one point. Squibs are _born_ without magic, _stupid_."

I bent my head, embarrassed. It took a while before class resumed its teachings, yet people were still shooting me nervous glances as if my loss of magic was some disease. I was a bit scared to look at Lily. I wanted her to not care, but was too afraid to find out right now. I scribbled down random notes, not really paying attention and when class was let out, I hastened to leave, while leaving everyone else behind. Or so I thought.

Lily had raced after me and grabbed my arm, whipping me around to face her. "Ambrosia! Slow down!"

"Lily, let go. I don't want to explain," I said, exhausted. Lily let go, but still hurried after me.

"Yeah, alright," she said, "But… If you're skipping class, you better be prepared to have me tagging along." I huffed, but was secretly grateful for having her talk some sense into me. Skiving off classes on the first day? Mother would go mad.

When we arrived at our next class, Divination, all but a few seats had been taken and unfortunately, there were no open seats that were next to each other. I shuffled through the room, trying to make it to the back when I was yanked down into poufy stool next to Sirius Black. When he didn't release my hand, I pulled away, confused as to why he still had that smirk on his face.

"Settle down," the teacher called, "We'll be starting right away from where we left off last year, in palmistry. Partner up, and consult your books. Any questions, just come up and ask." I looked back at Sirius as he took my hand again and began interpreting my future.

He slowly ran his finger from my grandmother's old ring then down along my line of heart and I tugged my hand away, curling my fingers in to form a fist with my hand. It tickled. "Stop that!"

"I'm just trying to read your future!" he susurrated.

"Fine," I stammered, letting him take my hand again.

After a minute of him flipping through his book he whispered, "You're going to meet a tall handsome stranger today and fall hopelessly in love with him."

I paused for a moment. "That's hogwash-" I stopped when I realized how close together out faces were. "What are-" He had leaned in even closer so I moved back. "I guess Lily was spot-on about your reputation as a whore-hound," I said, outraged. I had never been subject to boys and their attractions. When I went to Beauxbatons there hadn't been any boys. Other than that, there were the guys I had hung out with in the summer, but I had grown up with them and our friendship was purely platonic. I softened my glare. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," I murmured, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and looking around at a couple of people who had been listening in on our conversation and watching.

"No, and you probably shouldn't have," he said, but he was still smiling, "So you can make it up to me tonight by accepting that offer on James and I giving you and Lily a tour of the castle."

That evening, I dragged Lily out into the Gryffindor common room where Sirius and James stood waiting for us. Unbeknownst to me, my great mistake of the year was letting Sirius Black orchestrate the tour..

**Okay, so I'm finally done with this chapter and I'm very excited for the next chapter. It's really where everything starts and if it turns out good, hopefully it's an omen that the rest will follow in the same fashion or something.**


	3. Sweet Merlin

**Chapter Three – Sweet Merlin**

With his arm snaked around my waist, he dragged me all across the castle with James and Lily close behind. Lily hadn't said a word to James, regardless of his efforts. I stiffened a yawn as Sirius brought me to a sudden halt. He jogged up and down the corridor a three times before I noticed a door appear beside me. Sirius opened it and held the door open for me, leaving Lily and James to follow.

"This is the room of requirement!" he announced in a stately manner, motioning towards the piles and piles of stuff. "Follow me," he said, pulling me by the hand through narrow lanes of more junk.

"Sirius! Ambrosia!" I heard Lily holler, but we were already so far ahead of them. I was wondering if we'd even be able to find our way back when we stumbled into a little alcove and Sirius's hand fell from mine.

"Nice ring," he mentioned. I glanced down at my hand before realizing that when he let go he'd slipped off my grandmother's ring.

"Give that back! It's not just any ring!' I exclaimed crossly. I stepped forward.

"I hid it," he said, suddenly business-like, gesturing to the piles of stuff around us and looking happy with himself. I charged forward angrily and he backed away, tripping over a few things on the ground before stopping firmly and meeting me with a steely look of his own. "Tell me why you can't do magic. You aren't a squib, so there's got to be some reason," he said, calmly, "Answer my question and I'll give it back, just like that."

"I don't know why. Just give me my ring back," I said, scoffing. I waited for him to start acting sensible, but he just crossed his arms. Rolling my eyes, I started riffling through everything at a frantic pace.

"Well then why did you leave Beauxbatons?" Sirius asked, then drawled, "I just want to know more about you. Haven't had something new in decades." I whipped my head around to look at him in disgust. I was about to utter a well deserved 'are you kidding me?' when the teapot I had just stuck my hand into to check for my ring bit me. That's right. It bit me.

I drew my hand out with a gasp of surprise. Was there something in the teapot? I sucked on the wound grimly and glared up at Sirius. Sirius peeked in the teapot and pulled out a small slip of parchment. I stood up and snatched it from him, unfolding it to read what was written inside.

_If you are reading this now, you have already reached your hand into my teapot and the blood binding spell has been activated. I, Merlin Ambrosius, enchanted this teapot with an advanced magic that I practically and literally poured a piece of my life into. The terms of this blood binding spell are as follows; seven papers will appear one after the other with a task inscribed on each. If these tasks are not completed by the end of the year, severe consequences will be sure to follow. I am sure you are wondering what they are, but I'll just leave that to your imagination._

What. The heck. Merlin? Why would anyone go through all the trouble of enchanting a teapot to do this? Sirius read the note over my shoulder then started giggling. Why was he giggling? It was a weird giggle. A man giggle. I whirled around and shot angrily, "Do you find this funny? The tasks could be anything! What if one tells me to kill someone or blow up the school?!" I was downcast, kicking a few objects that were on the ground, and wishing Sirius would just disappear for a moment.

"Well why don't you look in the teapot and find out?" Sirius put in, speaking as if I were a kindergartener.

I stiffened before reaching over to the teapot and taking a tiny scrawl of parchment that hadn't been there before.

_Task One: Spank the person closest to you._

I looked over to Sirius who was standing there looking bored and cringed. I read the note over again. Wow, Merlin was officially a pervert. I looked back to Sirius after giving the teapot a nasty glare, stuffing the note in my pocket.

"What? What did it say?" Sirius asked.

"N-nothing. Let's just get out of here already," I spluttered, grabbing the teapot and walking behind Sirius, still in shock. And I had thought murder was bad.

**So I decided that I don't really care how long chapters are. Chapters that are shorter will probably be followed by another chapter in a shorter amount of time so either way, you're not getting less I guess? I just reached the last sentence of the chapter and decided that was the place that I wanted the chapter to end at.**

**Oh, also, I don't necessarily update after I've finished writing each chapter. I update in groups of chapters so that if there's something I wrote recently that needs to change a bit I can still do that. So that's why I will be updating maybe 2 or 3 chapters in the span of one day.**

**Wow this is kind of long, sorry, but I have another quick thing to add. I can't believe a viewer saw my story from Australia! I mean.. Australia! Home to Caitlin Stasey! AHHHH! Australia.**


	4. You, Me, and Merlin

**Chapter Four – You, Me, and Merlin.**

**A/N:** **Sirius had to kind of be a jerk for this all to happen. He's not really a jerk/at least he won't always be one, he's just not used to having to work hard to charm girls because he just gets them just because he is Sirius Black. But Ambrosia will probably change that… maybe… *giggles and runs away***

The next morning in the class, I was clearly still devastated. From the things Sirius had said, to the things he did, to Merlin's teapot biting me, yesterday definitely could've been better. He sat next to me earlier in the morning and acted as if last night hadn't happened, which sent me into an irritated silence.

"What happened in the room of requirement?" Lily asked, prodding at the plant we were supposed to be working on for Herbology. "I'm guessing it was Sirius, so what did the genius do this time?"

"He took my grandmothers ring, which I still don't have back, and told me he'd only return it when I told him why I left Beauxbatons or why I can't do magic," I ranted, biting my lip. Then, I lowered my voice to a whisper and told her about the teapot. Lily's eyes went as large as saucepans when I told her my first task. I couldn't even look at Sirius anymore without the teapot's words playing over in my head.

"So are you going to do it?" Lily asked.

"I guess I kind of have to," I murmured, still feeling petrified at the thought of having to spank Sirius, or anyone, for that matter.

"Well when are you going to go through with it?"

"Uh… I don't know. I really wish I could forget about it all for the time being," I said, massaging my temples. Mother had already written to me twice since the school year had started. The first time to ask how I was faring at Hogwarts, the second a panicked letter asking why my reply had been so short. But honestly, what was I supposed to tell her? That I had been doomed by an enchanted teapot? The whole circumstance sounded silly beyond measure.

"Hello," James said walking around the table, and Lily rolled her eyes. _What a tosser_, said the look she was giving me. The corners of my mouth twitched upward.

"What are you doing over at our table?" I asked, eyebrows raised. I actually liked James quite a lot for he was very funny and was easy to talk to. Lily thought I was nuts for enjoying his company, but she was a little nuts herself.

"I was working with Longbottom, so we got done early."

"Have you asked Sirius for my ring?" I inquired insistently.

James's face fell. "Um… yeah, yeah I did. No luck. He said if you want it back you'll have to man up and ask him yourself." I punctured my plant with the gardening spear and it opened at last. I looked over to where Sirius was working. Or rather, where he should have been working. Instead, he was shamelessly flirting with some girl.

"What a shameless slut. Does he bounds when it comes to female species?" I said softly, more to myself than them. In fact, I hadn't expected Lily or James to even hear what I'd said. The words had slipped out regardless, and I paused; Lily and James sharing surprised looks. Then, James let out a laugh, one which quickly turned into a prodigious bellow that attracted the attention of the whole room. Even Sirius turned away from the girl he had been chatting up. I ducked my head down, hoping James would stop laughing and that people would go back to attending to their plants.

I tugged on James's sleeve, willing him to stop as Sirius sat himself down next to us. "So," he said, flipping his hair, "what's going on?"

"She called you a s-" James began, before I smashed my hand against his mouth to shut him up.

"It was nothing. Lily told a funny joke," I said, solemnly.

"Well I'd love to hear it," Sirius said, eyes narrowed.

I exhaled. "First, Sirius, I want my ring back… Please."

"Sure you can have it back," Sirius said, and I waited a few seconds, but he just added, "later tonight. We're having a little party in the kitchens. If you both come, I'll give it back."

I gripped my wand angrily, though an empty threat, lightly jabbing Sirius in the side with it. "We won't be going."

Lily and I stepped into the kitchens, and upon first sight of James, Sirius, and Peter, cringed. They were sitting amongst a large group of girls. Did they seriously just… Girls were fawning over them and they were enjoying it immensely.

"Lily!" James said, jerking up to greet us. "You made it!"

"Well hello to you too, James," I said, acting affronted, then I directed my attention to Sirius. "The ring?"

"Later, right now you have to try some of this." Sirius tried sticking the piece of cake he had on his fork into my mouth. The other girls gave me scathing looks which I flinched at, mouth pressed into a thin line. He continued prodding my mouth with the fork.

"Will you stop tha-" I started angrily, and he took this opening to shove the bite into my mouth. I chewed, frustrated, before sitting down with all of the other girls.

James tried to show off to Lily throughout the party. However, eating a whole cake in less than 5 minutes to impress a girl… well… Anyways, the girls kept on complimenting Sirius, fluffing up his big giant ego or asking to play spin the bottle or truth or dare. I reluctantly agreed to playing truth or dare for the purpose of daring Sirius into giving me back my ring so that Lily and I could leeaaave already.

"Alright then," Sirius started, "I'll ask first. Ambrosia. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," I said, knowing I was dooming myself, but too chicken to let Sirius dare me.

"Why did you transfer to Hogwarts?"

I thought for a moment, before a small smile played on my lips. "Because my family and I moved to England."

"Well then why did you move to England?"

"That's two questions, not one. My turn. Sirius truth or dare?" I said, feeling triumphant.

"Truth." Dammit.

"Uh… Oh! I know! Where is my ring?" I internally patted myself on the back for that one.

"Simple. It's in my pants' pocket." Okay, maybe I shouldn't have wasted my truth like that. "Ambrosia, truth or dare," Sirius asked, with an evil glint in his eye. The girls let out 'ucks' and various groans, disappointed that none of them were being called on.

"Dare!"

"Go on a date with me to Hogsmeade," he smirked.

"Hogsmeade?" I asked, faintly recalling Lily mentioning the name.

"The wizarding village where students can go for weekend trips," Lily reminded me.

The girls glowered at me and I squirmed in my seat and mumbled, "Whatever. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"Give me my ring back immediately!" I said happily, glad that he would no longer have any leverage against me.

His smile had dropped off his face and he crossed his arms. "No."

"What do you mean? You chose dare, I gave you a dare. You _have _to," I said, unamused and downcast.

"She's right, mate," James said, backing me up.

"Well I'm bored with this game. You people can continue without me," he said.

"Sirius," I demanded. This whole thing had been a scam. Sirius never had any intention of returning my ring.

"Well then why don't you come make me if you want it back so badly!" he said, challengingly.

I reluctantly tiptoed through about a billion girls and grabbed him, trying to get my ring back. He grunted as he attempted to squirm away. I grappled with his wizarding robes and managed to get them out of my way. However, he had begun to crawl away.

_Task One: Spank the person closest to you._

Don't do it. _You have to. _Aghh no, he'll think I'm a pervert. _You're right, you really shouldn't. _I took a guess at which pocket and brought my hand down to hit him. I had felt a small ring-like bump and slipping my hand into the pocket, I took out my grandmother's ring, slightly besmirched by its journey back to me.

"Did you just-" he didn't even finish his sentence. The look of shock on his face was kind of adorable. Wait- what? "Kinky, Emerson, very kinky."

"Oh, don't act like I wanted to," I huffed, reaching in the pocket of my robes, pulling out the crumpled paper, and tossing it at him. He unfurled the paper, read it, and blinked before grinning widely.

"You and I are going to have a ton of fun this year, Emerson. You, me, and Merlin, that is."

**A/N: So, how was it? I'm still trying to think up tasks – hehe, I'm not one for planning. I would appreciate suggestions. Oh, and the tasks are- in a more extreme scale (eventually) – dares if that helps? I don't know… What am I doing? wpoeithwtlset**


	5. Should Have Been in Slytherin

**Chapter 5 - Should Have Been in Slytherin**

When I had woken up the next morning, I rolled over in my bed to come face to face with the teapot. Sitting up straight, I reached my hand inside to protract my new task.

_Task Two: Steal the Headmaster's Phoenix._

What? WHAT! Dumbledore owns a… a phoenix? My mind was reeling. It was Saturday, so I ran down to the Great Hall where I guessed Lily would already be eating her breakfast and demanded for her to either deny or confirm the validity of Dumbledore owning a phoenix.

"I actually have never been in his office before," Lily said, shrugging, "Maybe you can ask James or Sirius… they've been in there loads of times." I scowled, and she tittered happily, "James it is then…"

Unfortunately, James was at his Quidditch practice. Why anyone would hold a practice so early in the day, I didn't understand. Plus, James was the team captain, couldn't he hold the meeting later in the day? In Beauxbatons, there hadn't been enough girls signed up for teams so Quidditch had been cancelled, so I was intrigued to see the game in action.

Two girls from our year slid in to sit down next to me, arranging various fruits onto their shiny plates. I was fairly certain I had seen them from the kitchen party, but it wasn't until one of them spoke before my suspicions were confirmed.

"I see you've attracted the attention of Sirius Black," she said sharply, cutting her fruit with her knife and fork into unnecessarily small pieces.

My eyebrows knitted together. "Uh, I-"

I seemed that I had taken too long to answer, for she went on as if I hadn't spoken at all, "I wouldn't read too much into it. He may be gorgeous, athletic, and smart, but he's got the attention span of a fruit fly. I'll give it a day or two before he loses interest."

"Hmmm," was all I said, busy staring it my spoon avidly. Lily looked at the girl scathingly.

"Don't you talk?" the girl said, leaning forward, too close for comfort.

"Lay off, Claire, or I'll dock points."

"Hey, I'm just letting her down easy. This is Sirius Black we're talking about. She doesn't stand a chance. What's more, he's already in a relationship," Claire said, sounding satisfied. She looked over at me, smiling, and I could tell she thought her words had stung me. She leant back in distaste when she realized they hadn't.

"I have a hard time believing that," Lily commented, passively, "Who's the victim?"

"Milana. She's in Ravenclaw and her father works with the minister of magic," Claire's friend blurted out, earning a look of disapproval from Claire for speaking out of turn. Lily's face scrunched up in dislike.

"Never mind," Lily said, "They deserve each other."

Claire nodded, under the impression that Lily was of the same mind as her. "She's gorgeous. So you see, Ambrosia, I was just looking out for you. There's no way you can compete with _that_," she said, clearly referring to a girl who had just entered the hall and was walking past us to sit at her house's table. She had luminous dark brown hair, translucent skin, and piercing blue eyes. Her frame was tall and slender and she was clearly not lacking in looks. Her face was defined by high cheekbones and a naturally bored look which only added to her beauty.

Claire ate some more of her fruit and Lily got up, so I stood to leave too. "One more thing," Claire added, "Sirius asking you to Hogsmeade? Well, I've already informed Milana and she didn't seem too happy about it. You're not mad at me for telling her, are you? I mean, she's his girlfriend, she deserves to know everything that goes on between you and Sirius."

I don't reply, I just followed Lily, who was absolutely seething, out of the Great Hall. "One day, everyone's going to realize just how transparent that girl is. What a piece of work! At least Milana has him and not her, though Milana is not much better. Honestly, Sirius seems to happen to pick the most infuriating sexual conquests." We exited the castle, moving through the grounds towards the pitch, the bright Saturday morning light shining in our eyes.

"Milana Swanson," Lily mumbled, "She's the epitome of charming until there isn't a boy in sight. Then, she's downright condescending. The only reason Claire doesn't badmouth her is because she fears Milana. The suck up."

We arrived at the pitch to see them touch down onto the ground.

"Come to see us practice?" James asked Lily, flashing her a smile.

"No. I'm accompanying Ambrosia."

"James, I need to ask you something," I blurted out, inviting James to walk near one end of the pitch, away from the rest of the team. I didn't want them listening in, especially Sirius.

"You know he's going to tell him everything anyways, right?" Lily murmured to me, "They probably sit on their beds, braiding each others hair, and swapping secrets."

"Oi! I'm standing right here!" James protested, puffing out his chest.

"Right, James, I wanted to know if it's true that Dumbledore owns a phoenix."

"Oh, Fawkes. Yeah, he does. Might I ask why you've inquired about Dumbledore's pet bird?" James nudged.

"What about Dumbledore's pet bird?" Sirius asked, having approached us after he finished changing. I could smell his aftershave and had the fleeting urge to bury my face in his neck. I shook my head before looking up at Sirius, who smirked.

"Nothing," I said, stubbornly, "I'll see you later, James… Lily…" I set off. Not five seconds later, I noticed footsteps from behind me. My mouth pressed into a thin line, I didn't look back. I sped up in hopes of losing _him_. He adjusted to my speed, jogging up to walk beside me.

"Are you still mad at me for taking your ring?" I didn't answer, and he went on, "You don't have to be mad at every little thing, you know. It was just a ring."

"Maybe to you," was all I said. My attempts to walk faster failed as he could easily catch up with his longer legs.

We entered the cool building. To be honest, I had no idea where I was, but I kept of walking in the hopes that Sirius would give up and go away. "What is it that you're so scared of?" Sirius said, changing direction. He stepped out in front of me and for a moment I just glared at him. "Are you," he took a step forward, closing the space between us, "scared?" I could feel his shuddery breath on my lips; my own breathing erratic and unsteady as well.

His lips met mine and I sighed, his feet shuffling forward with my own until my back hit the wall softly. I had momentarily lost all sense, but part of my brain was begging me to stop so I pushed away. He growled, ignoring the hand that was putting pressure on his chest. _He has a girlfriend. _Lily's words also echoed in my head, _Sirius seems to happen to pick the most infuriating sexual conquests._ Was that what I was? I pushed him away urgently, running out of the corridor. _Some Gryffindor you are_, I thought, _Running away like that… Should have been in Slytherin._

**Please R&R, even if it's just a quick 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'? It would mean a lot. **


	6. Out of my Mind

**Chapter 6 – Out of my Mind**

In the next week, Sirius and I had been avoiding each other… Well, it wasn't very hard, for he had his face buried in Milana Swanson's every time I saw him and I couldn't even look at him for more than five seconds without guilt flooding my face.

Surprisingly, a new fixture in my life was Claire, who enjoyed gossiping and insulting me in her own small ways. Always with her was her friend, whose name I learn was Rita (**A/N well now you know)**. At first, I had felt sorry for her; Claire was always bossing her around. However, I soon learned that Rita Skeeter was possibly even more sour than Claire. She would have been far worse if she wasn't always so busy writing in that journal of hers.

Today, Claire was skimming through her magazine of Witch Weekly, commenting on the articles, herself, and unfortunately me. "You could be pretty if you tried, Ambrosia," she added, wistfully.

"Uh… Thanks?" Coming from Claire, I suppose that's the closest thing to a compliment I'll ever get from her. She wasn't ever exactly nice to me, but I could tell she was being nicer, especially since Sirius and I hadn't spoken for nearly a week.

"Oh god, here she is," Claire muttered, scrunching up her hair as she eyeballed Milana, who had been led to the Gryffindor table by Sirius. She laughed coldly and threw her head back, her long dark hair cascading down her back. I doubt any girl could suppress the twinge of jealousy playing in their stomachs and for that terrible moment, I felt just like any other Sirius Black fan girl.

"I love her outfit," Claire said, aggressively. She often spoke about Milana in a love-hate way.

"She's just wearing the school uniform," I said, confused.

"But just the way she's wearing it…" Claire sighed.

I shot Claire an odd look, but deep down, I knew what she meant. Urgh, I hated where this day was going.

"Well I think her skirt is way too high. Why don't any of the teachers say something?" I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Her father is the minister of magic… Anyways, maybe you should try wearing _your_ uniform more… Er… you look homeless. Maybe wear a blouse your size? You look like a baggy shapeless blob," Claire said. The sad thing is, she was trying to be helpful. Worse still, I'm fairly certain that Claire had become my second actual friend in Hogwarts, excluding James.

"They're never going to work," Lily said, plopping down next to Claire. Claire raised her eyebrow doubtfully, and Lily continued, "Come on. She's from a family of power, a pureblood, well-mannered, manipulative – everything Walburga and Orion Black want in a daughter-in-law. Sirius would never get serious with her for the sole reason that it goes against his spite towards them."

We weren't sitting too far away from them and I think Milana heard Lily, because she sent her a devastating glare before getting up to sit by us.

"Hello, Claire, Lily," she said, before turning to me. "You're new. Milana Swanson," she said, holding out her hand, daintily.

I shook it, answering, "Ambrosia Emerson." She sized me up before taking a handful of grapes and looking at my plate of sticky pancakes distastefully. "I heard you transferred from Beauxbatons. Why did you leave?" She smiled softly, and I narrowed my eyes at her open cleverness. Manipulative little brat.

"Funny," I said, "Sirius asked me the same thing."

Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Oh, my Sirius?"

I don't know what got into me, I must have felt over-defensive, because I replied heatedly, "Your Sirius? I wasn't aware that Sirius belongs to you. I thought he was a coherent human being with civil rights, not a thoughtless clone." Milana choked on a grape at this, her hand flying to her long neck.

Lily smirked and Claire stared at me with a look of respect, shock, and disapproval. Sirius came over to walk Milana to class and Milana sent me an unsure look of victory before hopping out of her seat to link arms with Sirius.

"Are you crazy?" Claire whisper-yelled once the couple had left.

"I don't know," I said slowly.

* * *

"We'll need more people," James said, "We need at least two more. One to stall, and another to warn us if anyone's coming. Then, there's us three to get Fawkes." We were in History of Magic Class, taking notes and talking about our plans to get in the Headmaster's office.

"Alright. Peter can be the lookout and Remus can be the staller," I said, nonchalantly.

"Remus won't play any part in this. We need Sirius," James insisted.

"Fine," Lily said, crossing her arms, "I guess it makes sense. Sirius already knows about the teapot, so we don't need to re-evaluate him."

I bit my tongue, halting any protesting words that might've slipped out. "And how are we going to get in, anyways? We don't know the password."

"Sirius and I have been in the headmaster's office loads of times, it'll be easy to guess the password. He mostly does names of sweets," James reassured me.

* * *

"Blister pops?" James asked, shrugging.

"Sugared Shamrocks?" Lily put in.

"Cinnamon Cigars! Morphing Melts! Canary Cream! Ice Mice!" I tried, but to no avail, before I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. Expecting Dumbledore, I was mildly relieved to see that it was just Sirius.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, "Shouldn't you be out there in case Professor Dumbledore shows up?"

"Well…" Sirius trailed off, "I bribed peeves to come tell us if anyone was heading towards this part of the castle…"

"But why are you up here?"

"_He's_ coming up from the kitchens. Do you have the password yet? We have to go," Sirius said, irritated.

"Crap," Lily said, wringing her hands and starting to panic, "Uh, oh I know! Peppermint Humbugs!" The door swung open, and we let out a quick victorious shout before running up the stairs to the office of Professor Dumbledore. Upon spotting a pot of ashes, I peered over the edge to see a small fledgling staring back at me with wide eyes. Scooping it up from its throne of ashes, it chirped happily. I tucked it into the big pockets of my robes before we hurried out, hearing footsteps coming down the corridor.

"We have to split up," James said, grabbing Lily and Peter and pulling them along the corridor to our left. I broke into a sprint, going the opposite way, hoping that someway, somehow, we'd get away with this.

"This way," Sirius said, lifting a tapestry to reveal a secret passageway to merlin knows where. We walked quickly into the depths of the winding passage before stopping to catch our breath on the other side.

"Do you think the others got away?" I asked, looking up at Sirius.

Sirius grunted, apparently unconcerned, before walking off into the dark. Not knowing where I was, I followed him quickly. "Hey!" I exclaimed, "Where are you going?"

"Back," he said.

"To.. the.. common room?"

He shrugged and kept on walking. It was like déjà vu, except our roles were reversed. That, and it was considerably harder for me to catch up with him than it had been for him to catch up to me.

I rolled my eyes, jogging to keep up. "Is there a reason you're being so rude?" I asked, haughtily.

"Just thought I'd back off, since you're so prudish," he mumbled, bitingly. This surprised me. I hadn't given a thought as to _why_ Sirius hadn't been bugging me recently. I mean, that would mean I would have to understand how Sirius's brain worked… But now…

I laughed, which might've come out as more of a wheeze, since I was already winded. "Is this because I rejected you?"

"Rejected me? You did not reject me. Like I said, you're a prude," Sirius sneered, halting altogether, and facing me angrily. Bingo! So I was right.

"You've never been rejected before have you?" I said, amused.

"Never been- I told you, you didn'-" Sirius huffed, but I stepped forward and cut him off.

"Get rejected? Sure you didn't," I smiled up at him.

"Anyways, even if I was-"

"Which you were," I inserted, having my moment of fun while it lasted.

He glared at me and continued, "… rejected, I still don't see how you think I'm, what, avoiding you for this? Just because I haven't given you any attention for about a week, and you're feeling neglected, does not mean it is related in any way with our kiss. I mean, why would I be resentful? I'm already dating the hottest girl in Hogwarts." His lip had pouted to form a look of pure arrogance. My hand twitched, but I quelled the urge to slap the look off his face. After all, he had his wand on him, and if he decided to use it I'd be spelled into oblivion.

"You're such a child," I said, flustered, following him again, back to the common room.

"I think you're just jealous."

"Of who? You?" I said, doubt apparent on my face.

"Of my girlfriend," Sirius hummed.

"Oh really, and why would I be jealous of her?" I laughed, recalling our talk during breakfast that one day. shot me an incredulous look, which I ignored, and we rounded the corner.

"Thieves! Students out of bed! I've caught you now," said Argus Filch triumphantly, "As if this school is your playground! I'll teach you!" He grabbed us by our wrists and marched us back to the headmaster's office.


	7. The Third Task

**Chapter 7 – The Third Task**

Fortunately, it seemed as though we were the only ones who had been caught. Fawkes was restored to his ashes and chirped happily as we were seated in front of Dumbledore's large desk. He smiled at us, asking Filch to leave, his eyes twinkling.

"So I suppose there's a good story behind all this," Dumbledore said kindly, leaning back in his chair and waiting for one of us to speak. It took a while to get the whole story out… well perhaps I had left out some details, yet he had looked at me knowingly as I skirted around revealing the what the first task had been.

"Yes, there has been great tell of Merlin's magic teapot," Dumbledore said finally, and I let out a breath; glad that he had believed me. "Lost for a decade, I believe this is one of the first objects to be enchanted by Merlin. Indeed, he would have found the concept funny especially seeing as he must have been about your age at the time." Wow. Well that would explain a lot. Namely, the first task.

"I can see this will not stop you from breaking more school rules to satisfy the teapot, nevertheless, you will both be receiving detentions for the duration of the week," Dumbledore said, to be met by a groan from Sirius and a sigh of relief from myself.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"That will be all," Dumbledore replied, popping a lemon drop into his mouth. We left the headmaster's office hurriedly, careful to avoid eye contact with Filch who had been waiting outside.

The next day, we were informed in transfiguration on the time and whereabouts of our first detention by Professor McGonagall. This sent Milana into a pissy state which Sirius seemed oblivious to. As we went to collect the feathers we were supposed to be turning into jellybeans, Milana shoved me forward when she walked by. In turn, I stepped on the heels of her shoes, causing them to slip off. Returning to our desks angrier than when we had left them, we began trying to turn our handful of feathers into jellybeans which proved to be more difficult than we thought. Not only were we supposed to make it look right, but the taste was suppose to an elementary jellybean taste like strawberry or raspberry. I was partnered with James and Lily with Remus, I felt bad for Peter, who had ended up being the odd one out.

"Verto esca!" I humored myself, waving my wand half-heartedly. James on the other hand was doing magnificently, or so I had thought until I tasted one of his beans. After chewing for a second or two, my taste buds rejected it and in an effort to get the taste away, I swallowed it and gagged, choking. "Water!" I choked out to James before coughing several more times, my face turning red. "I am so going to kill you," I said when he returned, and downed the glass of water within a matter of moments. I sputtered, then my throat seemed to relax.

"What is going on over here?" McGonagall said tersely.

"I ate one of James's beans."

"Well maybe if you had been more focused on performing the spell and less on consuming its effects, then your feathers would not be feathers any longer." She walked away, and I narrowed my eyes at her, mumbling. It is not as if I could help it! It was pointless trying anymore. I'm in her house, why does she have to be so hard on me? I spent the rest of the class lost in thought; repeating the words verto esca forcefully and tapping my feather impatiently. So when the bell rang, I had got up, not paying attention to anything, not noticing the newly transfigured bean sitting on my desk.

Seven o'clock was ticking closer and closer yet Sirius still hadn't arrived. I was beginning to wonder if he'd come at all. We supposed to be in the care of magical creatures classroom, feeding amiruns and cleaning porlock cages.

"Here!" Sirius announced, giving Professor Kettleburn a smile. The rolling of my eyes was stopped as I noticed Milana had come in after him. She smiled at my, eyes glistening darkly.

"Why is she here?" I asked.

"Got a detention in Divination. I fell asleep," Milana said, grinning. I doubted that. Very. Much.

"Why don't you three start over there," Professor Kettleburn said kindly, indicating the amiruns. It sounds easy yes? Wrong. Amiruns are highly useful creatures. Their sap is used to bind the magical properties of substances such as acronite fluid and neem oil as a separate entity in a potion. This is all good and swell, however, Amiruns are an anorexiant breed. They don't eat enough food to sustain themselves, so they reproduce and die at a young age, rendering their sap production an insufficient supply. To keep them alive long enough for them to mature for ample sap, they must be force fed their diet of bugs and worms.

I put on my gloves, then grabbed a handful of writhing insects and starting on the first amirun of the group. It clenched its jaw tightly as I tried to pry it open with bar I had found on one of the shelves. In the end, I managed to force it to open its mouth by blocking its seven air holes. Satisfied, I looked over to where Milana and Sirius were standing. She hadn't touched a single bug or made any effort towards an amirun. Instead, she stood there by Sirius squealing excitedly as he finally stuffed several handfuls of grub into its mouth. _Just wait for it, _I thought, _you two really have no idea how to deal with amiruns, do you?_ Unlike myself, they hadn't forced the amirun to chew and swallow, so their victory was cut short by their amirun spitting the bugs back out. Most of it landed on Milana, for she had flung herself around Sirius when celebrating their victory, therefore shielding him.

She let out a deafening shriek, letting go of Sirius quickly, her eyes widening. She was frozen in fear, and she would have been laughable but I could tell she was terrified. Sirius just stood there in shock, a white maggot squirming on top of one of his curly dark brown locks. I walked over quickly to Milana who looked close to tears, and mercifully, I brushed the ones on her hair off and took off her black wizarding robes and let them fall into a heap on the floor. When they were all off of her she squatted outside shakily, puke on the ground next to her.

When I returned from taking Milana back up to her room to grab a change of clothes and maybe a shower as well, Sirius had already siphoned off any bugs left on him with his wand.

"How is she?" he asked, awkwardly.

I rolled my eyes. "Not good. At least she probably won't ever fall asleep in class again. Lesson learned, right?"

He remained silent and we started to clean up the mess on the floor. Professor Kettleburn had told us we were to continue tomorrow but that we had done enough today, so we put everything back to where we found it and left quickly.

"Ambrosia?" he called from behind me and I turned. "Er, thanks. I hesitated back there and I guess I just didn't know what to do right then." I nodded, walking shoulder to shoulder with him in silence.

"Hey, did you get your next task yet?" he asked. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper, handing it to him.

_Task Three: Camp out in the forbidden forest for a night._

"That's not so bad," he laughed.

"Easy for you to say, you don't actually have to do it." Sirius was suspiciously silent, so I looked over to see a mischievous grin on his face.

"No, no, no, no," I moaned at the determined gleam in his eye.

**A/N: So I've become more organized, hence individual chapter posts. I have a general idea of what will happen next so I don't necessarily need to post chapters in clumps? I also have little parts of it already written. Oh hey also, I found this really cool chrome extension that does this search and replace thing on pages so if you don't like the name Ambrosia you can replace every 'Ambrosia' with a name of your choice. I've been doing that with some fanfictions because there are some over-used names on here…**

**Oh, I almost forgot, there isn't a bit of Sirius/Ambrosia progress in this chapter, however, I promise the next one will. :}**


	8. Too Close

**Chapter 8 – Too Close**

"This really sucks," Remus whined as we dragged him along into the forest. It was nearing midnight and we were sneaking out of castle onto the chilly school grounds. Luckily, Potter had along some nifty cloak and map and Evans, being Head Girl, knew all the rounds of the prefects.

"Don't worry, Remus, your books will still be there when we get back," I laughed, hitching up my backpack as we walked through a narrow trail. Peter laughed a wheezy laugh as well, trailing behind us a bit as we entered a grassy clearing.

"Are we deep enough in the forest to set up a fire here without it being seen?" Lily asked worried.

"It'll be fine," James said softly, placing his hand on her arm assuredly. We set down our packs and tents as Sirius started the fire.

"Now who's sharing a tent with who?" Peter asked.

"The girls can go in one together, then Sirius and James in the other, and the two of us for the last one," Remus said.

"Any particular reason for the arrangement?" said Peter, looking slightly downcast at not being paired with James.

"Sirius snores and James moves around too much," Remus shrugged. Sirius scoffed as I bit back laughter, sliding into a sleeping bag in front of the fire.

Sirius plopped down next to me, stretching so that his hand waved in front of my face precariously. I swatted his arm away.

"What did we bring to eat?" I said, tearing apart the nearest pack. Sirius tossed me a bag of beef jerky and I ripped it open mercilessly. I bit off a chunk and realized Sirius was looking at me funny in a way that made my mouth dry and my belly turn over. I stopped nibbling the piece, half of it hanging out of my mouth, and looked down awkwardly.

"Ahem, hand me some, will you?" Peter asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah here." After we ate, it turned from relatively cold to freezing. We huddled closer together, nearer the fire, until some of us eventually retired to their tents. It seemed as though I batted a weary eye and it was suddenly only us left.

"Emerson?" he asked quietly.

"Hmmm?" I asked, in a warm happy daze, a little sleep-drunk.

"What made you come here?" he seemed serious.

I looked straight into the fire, playing with my hands nervously. I struggled with something to say before he reached his own hand over and weaved his fingers against mine.

I stared at our hands for while before answering, "The girls at Beauxbatons can be really mean, so we left Belgium. It was my mother's idea, actually, to move us back to Leicester. Things had gotten pretty bad up until then, though. Starting from second year, I couldn't even do magic, and I was completely embarrassed. I mean, I was laughed at every day. The rest didn't even really bother me, but _my magic_. I wonder all the time why it left me."

I looked back up at Sirius, looking to see if there was any sign that he thought what I said had been incredibly dumb. But there wasn't any. Instead, his eyebrows furrowed and he pulled me closer to him in a snug embrace.

I was so comfortable… and actually rather uncomfortable. My heartbeat seemed to pick up a faster tempo and my stomach was doing somersaults again. Why did it have to be Sirius? When I'm around him I can't stand him or… Well, either way, he drove me insane. My brain wasn't working properly, stopping midway in sentences, then starting completely separate thoughts, saying things to me that I hadn't even known before.

But of course, Sirius was just comforting me. That was all. He had Milana. I shut my eyes, trying to ignore his hands that were wrapped around my waist. It seemed almost as if I belonged there.. I mentally slapped myself. I was just Ambrosia, poor Ambrosia, to whom Sirius had taken pity to.

When we woke up, everything around us was bright. I sat myself up, away from the huddled mass beside me. Sirius, the huddled mass stirred, but didn't wake up.

"I made some eggs," Lily said. Remus, Lily, and I appeared to be the only ones up.

"Oh, erm, thanks," I said awkwardly, knowing full well that it probably hadn't been a good idea to stay out late. "I- we, kind of fell asleep out here. It wasn't like-" I trailed off, not knowing how I was going to end the sentence. _It wasn't like I had fallen asleep in his arms, or anything. Ha! It wasn't like that at all, _said the little sarcastic voice in my head. I blushed, then looked up, realizing the two of them were watching me. I took a plate of egg and began to eat. As I was nearly finished, Sirius woke up.

"Morning," he said, a large lopsided smile on his face, he reached over and stole my last piece of egg.

**A/N I think I'll try to do a Sirius POV in a chapter soon… maybe the next chapter, or the one after that. Well I hope you liked it. As you can tell, this is a slow progressing story and I put it at M because I'm still not quite sure how far I want it to go. I would have updated sooner, but I've been quite busy with robotics, Asian club (lol, I know), and a creative project for English, so there you have it.**


	9. Yes

**Chapter 9 - Yes**

It was just as I thought. From the moment I set foot in the common room, I had been pitted with this feeling of disappointment. Seeing Sirius and Milana joking around and as happy as ever left an imitation of a smile on my face. Nothing had changed and _they_ were happy.

Miserably and slowly, Milana had even forgotten to be mean to me. I guess I couldn't be considered a threat anymore. Sirius and I barely spoken, not out of him avoiding me, but probably just out of lack of time. Between training for Quidditch and Milana, was him scarfing down his meals. My eyes had met his once or twice during this time, then his fell back to his delectable sandwich.

I entered the common room to see Milana and Sirius 'studying'. She sent me a half-hearted contemptuous glare. My mouth tightens and I just walk past them up to my room. Weeks passed.

"Ambrosia," Lily asks cautiously. I can tell that she can tell that today is one of my worst days. I look up groggily from my bowl of cereal.

"Mmmm?" It's more of a statement than a question.

"Hurry up and eat, transfiguration is going to start in five minutes." I groaned. Transfiguration was with McGonagall and she HATED me. I quickly scooped several mouthfuls into my mouth before getting up and hauling my book bag out of the Great Hall behind Lily. We got there perfectly on time- give or take a couple seconds or something- but she scowls fiercely at us. I roll my eyes and her lips thin even further.

"I have written the lesson plan up on the board. Now please take out yesterday's assignment, I shall be coming around to collect them. Once I have your assignment you may begin," she sniffs, then starts sweeping through the rows of desks to receive our homework.

"Miss Emerson. Where, pray tell, is your parchment?"

I slump down in my seat. "I don't have it finished," I whisper, embarrassed.

"And why is that?" she says, her eyebrow raised. I remain quiet, so she continues, "You said you have some of it done? Let me see."

I dig around in my bag and pull out the papers with only a paragraph or two of words and to my dismay, she begins to read aloud and critique it in front of me. "The theory that wand power multiplied by concentration all over the viciousness/attack by bodyweight does not determine/influence transfiguration when multiplied by maximum achievable hyperconscious levels is highly inaccurate. Furthermore, the hyperconscious cannot be accurately measured either. Experiments with measuring hyperconsciousness does not yield constant factors that can be duplicated," she reads from my paper. "Miss Emerson, while your ability to disprove theories is unchallenged, I don't see how this meets the assignment requirements. You left many points undefended and didn't even answer the question posed for the assignment, but rather went off on tangent." Several Slytherins snigger as narrow my eyes at McGonagall. Okay, so maybe it wasn't my best assignment so far. What gave her the right to read it aloud in front of the whole class like that?

"You are slacking, Miss Emerson," she continued, "You can do better than this. Please rewrite it and turn it in by the end of the week." She continues down the rows and I stare at the paper now sitting idly on my desk with hatred. Lily puts a hand on my shoulder reassuredly and I suddenly stuff the paper back into my bag, not caring that it is all crumpled up now. Because that's how I feel. Crumpled. Up.

When I get back to the common room I swing my bag up so that it hits the side of the couch that I fall into a second later, exhausted. I rest my face on my knees, bitter over the string of unfortunate events that have presented themselves over the last couple of weeks. Someone sinks onto the couch next to me and nudges my arm that is wrapped around my legs. I look over and see Sirius. He smiles at me- another one of his lopsided grins and I somehow feel instantly better.

"So how's it going? How have the tasks been going?"

"Ummm… I actually haven't looked in the teapot since camping. I've- I've kind of taken a break," I murmur.

"Hey," he says, "You want to go to Hogsmeade this weekend? Just you and me. We can go have a butterbeer and mess with some Slytherins." He smiled and I returned to him a smile of my own.

"Okay."

**Sirius P.O.V.**

After camping with Ambrosia, it was clear that I needed to stay away. I tried to convince myself away from Ambrosia. I spent so much time with Milana that James had even commented that I seemed to be trying to drown myself in her. I needed to know if I even still liked Milana. Needed to know what I had with her before I could be swept away with my thoughts on Ambrosia. Over the next few weeks, my time spent with Milana was nice. However, Ambrosia kept creeping into my mind. Sometimes I would catch her eye at meals, and I'd be taken aback by how sad she looked.

Seeing her on the couch today had made my breath hitch. She seemed utterly miserable and I had the overwhelming urge to cheer her up.

I sit next to her, but she doesn't seem to notice so I say, "So how's it going? How have the tasks been going?" I haven't spoken to her in so long that this is all I come up with.

"Ummm… I actually haven't looked in the teapot since camping. I've- I've kind of taken a break," she says, looking back into the fire.

"Hey," I start, hoping she says yes, "You want to go to Hogsmeade this weekend? Just you and me. We can go have a butterbeer and mess with some Slytherins." I smile unsure at what to expect, but her face breaks into a smile as she agrees to go. I restrain myself from reaching over and dragging her onto my lap and into my arms, something I had wanted to do since I saw her huddled there on the edge of the couch, staring blankly into the fire and looking so empty.

When the time for the Hogsmeade weekend arrived, Ambrosia seemed considerably happier. I had told Milana that I was going with the guys and made the guys swear not to tell her the truth, though I could tell James found the idea amusing. God, I didn't even know what to do about Milana anymore. Lately she had been great, but I was swiftly losing interest. Plus, the one I was truly interested in was arm in arm with me, eyes shining in delight as I led her through Hogsmeade.

"Here, let's go into Honeydukes," I said, hand on her back, guiding her in.

"This is amazing," she said, laughing as some sugared toadstools danced around on the shelf next to her. I started laughing too and we eventually left, each with a bag of drooble's best blowing gum and a small package of ice mice. It was a warm windy day; one of the last nice ones as October was drawing to an end. I suggested that we go up to the shrieking shack and we plopped down on the ground a little ways from some boarded up windows.

"Sirius?" I looked over to her and she continued, "You have a younger brother in Slytherin right?" I nodded. "Why is it that I've never seen you two speak ever, Sirius?" My lips parted slightly, surprised.

"Oh- er…" I let out a sigh. "My family and I hate each other, my mother hates me especially. I haven't spoken with my father and brother since I left to go live with James in their family's manor." I looked out onto the village remembering my mother's face, the last time I saw her, twisted in fury when Ambrosia reached over and gave me a tight hug. She smelled like burning wood and peppermint and I was lost in her for a while until I felt her pull away.

"It's getting late." The words had barely left her mouth when mine started to gravitate towards hers.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" I jumped and tore my gaze away from Ambrosia's mouth, revolving to see Milana standing there, tears streaming down her face. "I thought you said you were with your friends! Imagine my surprise when I found James, Remus, and Peter down at the Quidditch pitch instead of here with you!" She was absolutely quivering in rage.

"Milana we were just talking and eating! See, I couldn't tell you because you'd think that this was something it's not! If you maybe talked to Ambrosia then perhaps you two could be friends. I mean, she saved you from those bugs that day in detention, right?"

"NO," she yelled, in a strangled cry, and then again with much more conviction, "NOOO! How dare you? How dare you! We are over! Done!" She stormed away, hands covering her tear-streaked face.

**Ambrosia P.O.V.**

"NO," she yelled, in a strangled cry, and then again with much more conviction, "NOOO! How dare you? How dare you! We are over! Done!" She stormed away, hands covering her tear-streaked face.

Sirius ran after her, arguing with her along the way, leaving me behind. I just sat there, silently, the look on her face fresh in my mind. She looked so hurt and blotchy.

The next day at school it was everyone's news that Milana had dumped Sirius. Or Sirius had dumped Milana. The fact that remained was that they were not together anymore. Swarms of girls were waiting, ready to 'comfort' Sirius every chance they got. Sirius came after breakfast to apologize for leaving me at the shack, but I waved it off.

"No, I get it. You were trying to clear things up." I went back to writing up my charms homework, hoping he would go. I couldn't deny, I was a little hurt over being left there. When I looked back up from the textbook, he had gone, but lying on my homework parchment was a letter. I heaved a sigh and opened the letter.

_Ambrosia._

_Will you go to the Halloween dance with me as my girlfriend?_

In divinations class, I approached Sirius.

"You got my note?" he said, smiling ridiculously. It almost made me want to smile as well. He seemed to catch the look on my face and his grin faltered. Before I could say anything, he interjected, "Look, Milana and I aren't together. In fact, we hadn't been working for a while and I-"

"Sirius," I said wearily, "I just can't." Milana's face had not faded from my mind and alongside that, was the imagery of me in tears wearing the same expression on my face as hers. Before that day in Hogsmeade, I had somehow forgotten that Sirius was the biggest player Hogwarts had ever seen (or so Sirius had once claimed proudly).

He shrugged. "Your loss." I left him alone- knowing how badly he could be handling this regardless of his outward appearance.

"So you told him no?" Lily asked back at our table.

"Yeah."

"But you like him, don't you?" I shifted in my seat uncomfortably at her words.

Class was dismissed and I tried to catch Sirius, but he was walking too quickly. I gave up, coming to a halt as students jostled me as they were in a hurry to get to lunch.

"Ambrosia," Lily said, pulling me into the Great Hall after her. We sat down next to Claire.

"You need to drink some pumpkin juice or something," Claire said, "You look like you've swallowed something groh-osss."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"Well what happened?" she asked. Lily told her and Claire became furious to my surprise. "Are you kidding me, Ambrosia? Sirius is my dream guy and he asks you out just to be turned down?"

"What? Shouldn't you be happy then that I turned him down?"

"What? No! Out of everyone, Sirius fancies you. YOU. You're the one lucky enough to have him care about you and you throw that away because you're scared you're going to get your feelings hurt or something?" she snarled. My mouth hung open and I must have looked as if I had been slapped across the face. I blinked several times in confusion, processing everything she had said. And she was right… well, her main meaning made sense to me at least. She had continued to rant, but I cut her short by a big hug and afterwards, I ran out of the hall, digging Sirius's letter out of my pocket.

"James," I said, running into him, "where is Sirius? I need to talk to him."

"Er, in the common room, Ambrosia? Why-" I gave him a huge smile and ran off like a crazy person.

**Sirius P.O.V.**

I was stretched out on the couch, feeling down, talking to Peter who was probably the most avid listener I had ever met in my life. "Honestly, I don't even know why I tried. Ambrosia will probably never find someone she thinks is good enough for her." Peter nodded and I went on, "That's why she'll always be alone. That, and the fact that she has ice in her veins. No wonder no one at her old school liked her," I drawled, blowing off steam. Peter, who had been sniggering at my words froze and I looked over my shoulder to see what he was looking at.

Ambrosia was standing in the doorway, shaking slightly in anger. This was the second time that day that I had fucked up. Tears were forming on her eyes.

"Oh my god, I am so stupid," I heard her say. She left abruptly after throwing something in the nearby bin.

I made to follow her, however, I stopped and peering into the bin, pulled out my own letter. Confused, I pulled out the paper. Underneath my own messy scrawl was written neatly a single word. _Yes_. I shut my eyes regretfully and began to run after her.

**Many thanks to the anonymous guest reviewer and apologies for how long this took- I've just been overwhelmed lately. Hopefully this long (longer) chapter makes up for it. But yeah stuff lately has been overwhelming but exciting! I had a robotics competition and our team won regionals and battled this other regional alliance winner and won too so it was such a great experience. Sorry if there are any mistakes.**


	10. Being Alright

**Chapter 10 – Being Alright**

I ran up into the girl's dormitories; a place – the _only_ place I believed Sirius couldn't follow me. My mind clouded in anger, some of it directed towards Sirius and some directed at myself. How could I have been so stupid? I drew the curtains of the four poster bed and drew up the blankets around me then sat still for a minute or so.

"Damn it," I said voice breaking. I would have to go to classes soon. Yes, I would have to haul my puffy-eyed mess of a self into transfigurations or face the consequences of Professor McGonagall's vendetta. I rolled over to the side of my bed and drew the curtains open sharply, swinging my feet over the edge of the bed. My eyes caught the teapot and an instant later I had taken off the cover and grabbed the task inside. But there wasn't only a task inscribed.

_I see you've remained idle for some time, Ambrosia. Well, let's just say I've been bored. In an effort to move you along, I have enacted the curse. Please hurry, Ambrosia, for the effects will present themselves soon. They'll subdue themselves after each new task and disappear completely after all tasks have been done. And with that, your next task:__ Become known as Hogwarts's new super slut.__ Best wishes,__ M._

I took the teapot and hurled it at the wall and it fragmented into a hundred pieces. I stood there, breathing heavily for a moment before I noticed the pieces had begun to quiver, slowly twitching and then pulling itself back together. There it stood, on the ground by the wall, as good as new.

* * *

"You're late!" McGonagall said so harshly I winced. I had gotten the puffiness to disappear and was left as angry as before, steelier even. "Well I'm here now so are you going to dock points or something?" I took my seat next to Lily, not taking my eyes of McGonagall and absolutely refusing to look anywhere near Sirius.

Her eyebrows raised, but if anything, she looked amused. "Where is last week's essay? The one I had you do over?"

"I-" I stopped. I had completely forgotten and by the look on her face, she knew it too.

"See me after class," she said, before turning to the board and starting the lesson.

"I heard about what happened," Lily said, "James is absolutely furious with Sirius and Remus is too."

"They don't have to be. I'm fine."

"Well…" Lily drew in a harsh breath, "He wants to apologize and he's been looking all over for you. I'm just saying this to warn you, Ambrosia. He's going to approach you even though I've told him to stay away." She looked at me anxiously and I gave her hand a tight squeeze before taking my quill in my hand to jot down some notes.

When class was dismissed, I waited behind near McGonagall's desk; prepared for the worst. "Miss Emerson-"

"I forgot okay? Give me a break! You've been hounding me all year and it's been tough," I interrupted, anticipating everything she was going to say. I had had it with Sirius, Merlin, and lastly her.

"Miss Emerson," she said, "I would have thought it obvious that the reason I am so hard on you is because I want to see you succeed. Do you ever wonder why you are unable to do magic anymore? You are not a squib, so why?"

"I don't know," I said, frustrated.

"There _is_ a reason and there _is _a way to get it back. There is always a way. Magic never really leaves. I don't know for what exact reason your magic has repressed itself or why it is denying its presence, but it _is _there. How else could the sorting hat have sorted you into Gryffindor? If you truly did not belong at Hogwarts then why did it place you in my house? I have been trying to push you harder because I know you can do it."

I was silent, tear pricking at my eyes. Secretly, I was moved. It had been so long that someone had put their faith in me regarding my magic rather than comfort me with pity.

"You may leave now," she said, lowering herself onto the chair behind her desk, "Wouldn't want to be late for your next class."

As soon as I entered the hallway, I was bombarded by Sirius. I didn't want to hear any of it and walked quicker, ignoring him.

"I want to make it up to you," he said, angrily. I continued walking, and turned into one of the busier hallways of Hogwarts. Glad of the crowds of people, I easily slipped away into the crowd where Sirius couldn't follow me and made my way to my next class.

* * *

The Halloween dance was creeping closer and closer and Lily and I decided, that on the coming Hogsmeade weekend, we would go and buy dresses and get out of the castle. She bought a shimmery gray dress that stopped just above the knees and I bought a sleeveless black laced collared dress and we left the shop, thanking the storekeeper who had suggested the dresses to us.

The next week was full of pre-dance panic. Everyone was terrorized over who to ask. It seemed almost comical to me: at my old school there wasn't any worry like this. After all, we were all girls and besides the few that swung the other way, and the occasional crushes on teachers, life had remained fairly simple on the aspects of boys. Here at Hogwarts, there were rules. You'd need to find out first if they had already been asked, and if they were, you'd have to wait until they've given their rejection or acceptance before asking them yourself, girls couldn't ask boys or they'd be seen as 'desperate', and encompassing that, there were the secret wars between girls behind sweet polite smiles competing for the attention of possible dates.

Milana was still trying to win back Sirius. She would still shoot looks at his fan club, as if daring them to approach them or even look his way. They weren't swayed, however, and kept on drawing up their courage. It was useful as a quick getaway from him if he ever tried talking to me.

Unfortunately for me, he didn't let up. "Ambrosia!" And though he had been trying to talk to me since that day, this was the first time he tried to physically stop me from walking away from him.

"Let go!" I said, gritting me teeth and eyeing his hand on my arm in disgust.

"No," he said, calmly, "At least you're talking now and we _need _to talk."

"Leave me alone," I said, and it came out unforgiving and guttural.

"Hey!" We both jumped, but Sirius still hadn't taken his hand off me. It was the Head Boy from Slytherin, and he was walking up to us.

"Get your hands off her," he said.

"Go away, Williamson," Sirius growled, "It isn't any of your business."

"It is if you're bothering her. She doesn't seem to want you around her and I recall her telling you to take your hands off of her." Sirius turned red and after an awkward ten seconds or so, he finally let go and walked away.

"Sam," he said, holding out his hand," Sam Williamson."

"Ambrosia," I said, taking his hand. He was probably the most handsome Slytherin available, not to mention Head Boy and keeper for their Quidditch team.

"I know." We walked to class and before entering Divinations, we stopped.

"Hey," he said, "Are you going with anyone to the Halloween dance?"

"No."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled coyly. "Would you go with me?"

* * *

At seven pm of the Halloween dance, all the girls of Hogsmeade were in their dormitories, putting on their dresses and makeup. Lily and I gave up trying to squeeze into the bathrooms and did each other's hair and makeup.

When we got there, it was crowded. The Great Hall tables were pushed to the side and decked with punch and snacks.

I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Sam. The dance started right away. Pumpkins were floating around, talking to anyone who would listen and bats were flying around or resting upside down from the ceiling. Skeletons danced with those who would otherwise be dancing alone and bouquets black roses were placed around the hall.

We danced for over an hour before collapsing on a cushioned couch that had been conveniently placed near us and laughed. Then, we kissed. Snogged, more like. I didn't really know what I was doing, but Sam seemed to so I just went with it. When we broke apart, he grinned and I returned one, unsure of what the heck was going on.

"Come on," he said, getting out of the couch we had been on and leading me out of the Great Hall. I blindly followed him, and after a couple minutes we reached a niche in the hall where a giant statue of a haggardly wizard stood.

Immediately, he started kissing me again, putting a hand on my thigh.

"Mm- Sam, I-" I started between kisses, and as his hand crept up, I pushed him away.

"What?" he asked, a little pissed off.

"What are we doing?" I said, then mumbled, "I want to go back to the dance."

Suddenly his normally kind face turned mean and he shot, "Whatever. You kiss badly anyways." I rolled my eyes. As if his wet sloppy kisses had been any better. He stormed out of the hallways and by the time I had re-entered, he was dancing with two other girls already.

I danced with Lily for a while, trying to forget what had just happened.

"I'm just going to get some punch, okay?" and so I went and poured myself some of the black punch, taking a sip. I looked around and received several disgusted glares. Something was wrong. I made my way back to Lily where she was talking with James. When they saw me walking towards them, the worry increased on their faces.

"Ambrosia," Lily said, tensely, "You and Sam? What happened exactly?"

"We didn't really work out, but he seems to be having a good time right now anyways. Why?" I was immensely confused. Lily gave a sigh of relief, but much of the worry was still there.

"There's a rumor going on that you and him-" she started, but she didn't get to finish, because it was at that time that I felt a terrible pain throughout my body and I began to retch. I hadn't really eaten anything, and the punch I had barely taken a sip from. So what- then it dawned on me and I paled. Merlin's curse was finally taking its toll on me. My head felt like it was about to split and I heaved again before James and Lily helped me out of the Great Hall. People were staring at me and now in the empty corridor, I started to feel a little better.

"Ambrosia, what's going on?" Lily asked, scared.

**In case you were wondering, this was the dress I had in mind for Ambrosia. And yes, that is Thea Queen from Arrow. And I don't know when I wrote Ambrosia I didn't really have much of a physical appearance until now but I'm imagining her to look like Thea Queen from Arrow now. *shrugs**

. ?w=640


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